In the fall of 2008, I took a class in college about natural disasters. The class discussed how and why each of the major disaster type (like earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunami, floods) happen in the first place. These natural processes occur all over the world, but most of us only take notice when human life is in danger. And that is an important distinction. An eruption on a tiny uninhabited island in the Pacific Ocean get little attention, but the same eruption size next to a small town makes headlines. I digress, this isn't why I'm writing about this.

During this class, we had to pick a disaster and write research paper on it. I chose the 79A.D. eruption of Mount Vesuvius that destroyed the Italian city of Pompeii. After I had read up on this, the idea of going to see it in person became enticing. At first it was just a fun “what if” that bounced around in my head. Then it became reading about other places in Europe that might be fun to visit. After a few months, I had a basic frame work for a real travel itinerary. By the summer of 2009, I had the savings and the background research ready to go on vacation into the European continent. 

This vacation had high ambition, but clear goals. My itinerary had a basic setup of how many days to stay at the major city and some ideas of must see sites, things that looked worthwhile, and plenty of time for just wondering around or discovering hidden gems. The trip would begin and end in London, forming a vaguely clockwise loop around Western Europe. And of course one of the big highlights would be going to Pompeii and seeing first hand the destruction that I read about in college.